I can't resist posting this photo, taken at a fertility shrine at Daishi Kawasaki in Tokyo.  We were in the neighborhood to pound mochi for the new year with a group of Japanese scouts.

I hear this penis shrine is quite popular and many foreigners come to pose with it, so add me to the list!  While we were here, I did see some families posing in front of the temple with their young babies, presumably giving thanks for the success of the fertility shrine.

If you can't own a car, might as well get a bike with some caché

I see these bikes all over Tokyo.

The best grocery sack in the world

Yes, the Japanese have the best reuseable grocery sack.  You may not have even known that you need the features in this grocery sack:

1. It folds into a very neat square that you can tuck into your purse or briefcase
   
2. A snap to keep things in the bag
3. A pocket for your wine bottle (of course, the store will also cradle the bottle in its own foam fishnet sleeve)
4. A small inner pocket for your money, in case you are doing the grocery store run
5. Super strong handles and construction because you WILL be walking those groceries home for several blocks

Here is a little video showing the huge globe that hangs in the Museum of Technology and Innovation in Odaiba, Tokyo.  We spent an entire weekend at the Museum, and we still didn't experience everything.  One highlight for Kai was sitting in front with the other kids during the demonstration of the Honda Asimo robot.

Yeah, that's right, the date on the music is April 3, 1982, when I was in high school.  I've recently been practicing in the mornings after the kids have gone to school and before I'm due at the office, and I've pulled out some of my old music books to tackle.  It feel really good to play, and in some ways I'm a much better musician than I ever was in high school and college.  And yet my technique is rusty -- there's no way I'm going to be able to get back to where I was when I played 4 or 5 hours every day.  That's okay, though, it's still fun to play and frustrating not to be better, just like it was all those years ago.

Birthday Boy

Another birthday and Kai is 10 years old. I am writing during the tail end of his sleepover birthday party, and it's really fun to see these five boys doing interesting things -- one of them is composing music on the computer, two are doing chemistry experiments with a birthday gift, one is building a Lego robot, and off and on they have all been working on a Lego town. Last night they watched movies, ate popcorn, played some games, and generally got along famously. They are about to start their last activity -- a treasure hunt that I managed to write after breakfast -- and then everyone is off to their weekend activities.

Miss Liberty in Tokyo

We are so excited to welcome Liberty back to the family. She arrived just a day ago after spending six months with Rose and her dogs and horses. She is now an official Japanese resident along with the rest of us after going through six months of quarantine, except she gets a permanent visa. And it was as if we had just left her yesterday -- she is her old enthusiastic and wonderful self! Liberty immediately checked out her new house, acquainted herself with our terrace, and has been following me around ever since. We've been on three long walks and have met and made friends with several other dogs in our neighborhood.

Japan is definitely a nation of small dogs, which are very popular here. There are very few dogs as big as Liberty, and she's not all that huge even -- just 63 pounds. As common as dogs are, I have still had a number of people wanting to meet Liberty as we went out walking.